5 Tips, Hints and Hacks for your Fantasy Football team!

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5 FPL TIPS FOR CONSIDERATION

With little over a week to Gameweek 1, we are seeing FPL players across the world in jitters regarding squad selection.

Worry not, no-one is going to win their mini-leagues on the opening weekend, that much is for sure. I’ve put this post together for FantasyYIRMA.com to highlight my personal golden rules regarding FPL team selection.

1. Form is everything, Class doesn’t matter. Not. – This might the one of the first and foremost golden rules of FPL but when you are preparing for a team for GW 1, never trust the pre-season form. Manchester United had two brilliant pre-seasons in the last 2 years and the stars failed to perform immensely during the opening GWs.

Ed: I picked Scott Sinclair last year based on a Pre-Season hat trick…

2. Pick 15 players you’re sure will start. – Okay, you might have seen this at other pages as well but this is critical for GW1 Selection. Thinking about picking Mata? Mane? Costa? Or even Ozil? Hold Off.

Euro 2016 Hangovers, Extended Holidays, injuries, Managerial changes and preferences will all need to be taken into account when selecting your initial 15.

3. Balance in squad – You could very well pick a heavy attack comprising Kane, Aguero and Ibrahimovic alongside a budget midfield but that’s a gamble in my opinion. How about if 2 GWs later you find out that KdB or Hazard have started really well while Ibra turns out to be another Falcao (he won’t) or Aguero gets injured? Picking a balanced midfield consisting of 2 heavyweights alongside 2 strong picks in both defence and attack gives you an option of not taking a hit while substituting.

4. FPL is a Marathon, not a Sprint -> Wise usage of Chips and Wildcards – Opinions may vary but I’m generally in favour of using the first available Wildcard around December and the 2nd WC + Chips around DGWs in April/May when the infamous Double Gameweeks start to appear. There is always the temptation to wildcard early if you’ve had a slow start, however I’d suggest you assess how many changes need to be made an take a points hit in GW 2 & 3 to stabilize your team and save the WC for later.

Plan your chips accordingly, and keep an eye on the upcoming fixtures to stay one step ahead where possible.

5. Gut-feeling is for transfers, not the entire team – Gambles in FPL are part of the fun and can ultimately help make or break your gameweek but not the entire team. So, while you prepare your team for the opening GW, try and insure you have around 13 sure-shot starters and minimise gambles on players with low Price (Ibe, Downing, etc). Keep your gambles to GW 4 and beyond and it can further wait if you take off to a flying start.